Bowling-alley ball-returnway.



P. J. RIDDBLL.

BOWLINGL ALLEY BALL RETURNWAY.

APPLICATION EILBD APR. 21, 1910,

Lm. 31,8%?, Patented Jan. 2, 1912,

' terminal 'llldlE TATE@ PATEN lfltl.

PARIS J. RIDDELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIG-NOR TO THE BRUNSWICK-BALKE-COLLENDER COMPANY OF NEW YORK, OF NEW YORK, N. .Y., A CORPORATION OF NEWYORK.

BOWLING-ALLEY BALL-RETURNWAY.

amasar.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 21, 1910.

Patented Jan. 2, i912. Serial No. 556,8()5.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Pains J. RmnnLL, a citizen of the United States,residing, in the city of New York, in the county of New York and Stateof New York, (whose postotlice address is Care of The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, Z9-3l Test Thirty-second street, New York city,New York,) have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bowling-AlleyBall-Returnways, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to bowling alley ball returmvays; and is animprovement on that genus of returnways which has come to be known, tothe manufacturers of bowling alleys, and to alley keepers, as theloop-the-loop-returnwayg which is made the subject of U. S. LettersPatent No. 630,728, granted to Mclntire and Holden on the Sth day ofAugust, 1899; and is manufactured and sold under said patent. ln thisltype of returnway, as now. made and sold under said patent, by TheBrunswick-Balke-Collender b., its owner, it has been found that, whenthe players end portions of the ball-tracks; or rails-il e. the up"ardly curved portions of the rails, the

forward end of which overhang the rearmost portion of the terminalrails, are shaped and proportioned so that the larger balls (say fromeight and six tenths diameter to live and a half inches inclusive).travel up on and are properly discharged, always therefrom onto theterminah the smaller balls from five inches in diameter down to thesmallest size used, inclusive) do not any of them always travel up onthese curved rails, and land properly on the and that the smallest, ofthis smaller series. never roll home onto the terminal. And, as it isdesirable to have this e'cnus of returnway capable of always properlyreturning, from the pit-end of the alley onto the terminal, all of thesmaller series of balls: so that one and the same loop-the-loop returnmay be .utilized when the `ame of duck-pin, for instance, is to beplayed. as well as when the alley is used for playing,Y the game often-pins with the larger series of the whole set of balls with which analley may be equipped- I have .devised and successfully put intopractical operation, in conjunction with a loop-the-loopreturn,- asupplemental device: which may be easily attached to, or combined withthe players end portion of the returnway, when the game of duck-pins isto be played, that will insure the rolling upwardly and forwardly (fromits over-- hanging part) onto the rear end of the terminal of all of theballs ot' the series used for such game; and which, when the alley is tobe used for playing ten-pins can be easily and quickly detached, orremoved, from the returnway, to permit the use thereon of all the ballsof the larger series. And my. invention may be said to consist in adevice readily attachable to and detachable from the usual loop-the-loopgenus or type of returnway, by the alley keeper, or attendant, and without the use of any tools-to either attach it to or detach it from the.returnway-which, when assembled with the returnway, will insure theproper homing, onto the rear end of the terminal, of all the balls ofthe smaller series.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use such an attachment,for a loop-theloop returnway, l will now proceed to more fully describemy invention, by reference to the accompanyingr drawing, which `formspart of this specitication; and illus- 'trates an attachment deviceadapted to carry into eifect my said invention.

ln the drawings `lfigzjure l is of a portion of a a side viewloop-the-loop returnway, showing* only the players end of the return,with one ot' my attachment devices combined therewith, as represented bythe dotted lines in this view. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. butwith the attachment device drawn in full linesw-the same as the parts ofthe yvloop-the-loop return itself. Fig. 3 is a vert-ical section taken.in a plane indicated by the dotted line 3--3 at Fig. l. And Fig'. 4 isa side view of the attachment device detached from the rcturnway; or ina condition of disuso.

Qin the several figures the same part, wherever it is shown, will befound bearing the same refer-ence letter.

A.. A. are the rails constituting the usual ball-track, (the slayers endportion thereof) on which the balls are sent home, or roll home, fromthe ptit-end of the alley; and that are curved upwardly and forwardly,forming a segmental track as usual, and as shown at A and A2, so as todischarge thev horned balls onto the rear end portion of the terminal orball receiving rack C;

'after the peculiar fashion of a loop-the- .the subject matter of myinvention, and

which I have shown attached to the returnway, at Figs. 1 and 2 (it beingshown in dotted lines at Fig. 1' and in full lines at Fig. 2) is-as Ihave so far made and used it-composed of a single piece of stuit (wood)of a thickness such as to fill in or easily fit in the space between theadjacent vertical sides, or surfaces, of the two track rails A. Af., asclearly shown at Figs. 2 and 3, in the relative position to said rail,in side View, shown by the dotted lines at Fig. 1. And the configurationof this device or part 'D is such (see Figs. l and 1) that, when' it isassembled with the returnway as shown, the rearmost part al of its edge(sec Figs. 1 and 4) will titto and bear againstthe nevvel post, orstandard B; while, at two points, in its lower or bottom edge, it willrest on and be sustained by the alley floor, as clearly shown. rIbiswill be best seen at Fig. 1 and at Fig. de, in which last named figure,I have shown the l'loor line by a dotted line .fry. And I have here alsoillustrated how the rear-most ,edge part d of the attachment comes to abearing against the newel post, by a vertical dotted line B. B. Thedevice D has its ball-bearing edge or surface (Z made angularly dishing,as clearly shown, forming a supplemental trackto insure the properretention on it and guidance ot the balls which roll thereon as theytravel homeward on this attachmentdevice; rolling lirst- (as they leavethe ball track A. A.) onto its lowermost forward portion, thence ontothe curved, ascending part D, and finally, by their impetus, travelingin Vcontact with the terminaloverhanging part, until, on reaching nearly(or quite) the forward extremity of the part D2 they pass therefromdownwardly (by gravity) onto the rearmost receivingends C of theterminal )Vlience they roll gently forward (in about the same manner asdo the larger balls used in the absence of the attachn'ient device) onsaid terminal.

n. is a block, or cleat. fastened to the floor,

at the proper point, and located intermediately of the ball track railsA. A., which engages the' shoulder or ynotched out part otth'e loweredge of the device D; as best seen at Figs. l and 4. And to assemble theattachment device with the returnway, it is simply inserted, rearwardlyand downwardly, in between the track-rails A. A. until the rearmostvertical part d of its edge is fo'rc'ed.

into contact with the newel post B; and the shoulder at Z2 (see F ig. l)engages ,snugly` with the cleator i'loor block a', 1n which position itwill be retained securely enough for use. Of course, to remove thedevice it is only necessary to first lift up its forward end from oraway from the floor until the shoulder at d2 shall be clear 'oit' thecleat a, and then pull the device out from, be tween the track-rails ina direction'the reverse of that in which it was put in to assemble itwith the returnway.

l have found that, in actual practice, (having used the device inconnection with a-looptheloop returnway of the usual standardmanufacture) my invention is most satisfactorily opera-tive Ifor thepurpose designed. And it will be understood, oi course, .that inpracticing it, the attachment device need not `necessarily be made ofwood, and precisely of the form shown; and that other means than that Ihave herein shown, for effect-ing its securement in place for use,

while at the same time permitting its ready' detachment. from thereturnway may be' adopted wit-hout departing from the sp' it orsubstance of my invention.

`What l claim as new and desire to secure' type of ball returnway,-whichhas a re-- ceiving rack and a segmental track overhanging said rack,said attachment comprising a member provided with a supplemental balltrack having an inclined portion, and a curved portion of greatercurvature than the segmental portion of the main track, to overhang thesaid receiving'rack, and adapted to be held in position to homethe'snlaller series ot' alley balls.

In witness whereof Ihave hereunto set my hand this 28th day o't'- March,1910.-

' PARISH. RDDELL. In the presence oilCmvAnn F. Enviar, J. N.li/icln'rmn.

